(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lasers, and more particularly to a hydrodynamic, electrogenerated chemiluminescent laser.
The phenomenon of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) has been known since 1964 and is described in detail by Allen J. Bard et al., Chemiluminescence and Bioluminoscence, pp 193-208 (1973). with a solution made up of an appropriate solvent, organic dye, supporting electrolyte, etc., dye anions will be created at the surface of negatively charged electrode which is immersed in the solution according to EQU D + e .fwdarw. D.sup.-, (1)
and at the surface of a positively charged electrode which is immersed in the solution cations will be produced according to EQU D .fwdarw. D.sup.+ + e and (2) EQU D.sup.- .fwdarw. D.sup.+ + 2e. (3)
After their production, the anions and/or cations diffuse from the electrode or electrodes. If the anions and cations can be brought together, i.e., by diffusion, etc., the following electron exchange interaction can occur, EQU D.sup.+ + D.sup.- .fwdarw. D* + D, (4)
and the excited dye molecules, D*, can yield light according to EQU D* .fwdarw. D + hv. (5)
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The main disadvantage of current dye lasers is the reliance upon optical pumping. This means that either another laser, such as a nitrogen or argon laser, or a flashlamp has to be used to excite the dye, with attendant high cost, large size and poor efficiency.
The semiconductor laser, on the other hand, offers some cost, size and efficiency advantages over the dye laser, but at the expense of power, tunability, range of wavelength and spectral and coherent properties.